2 April 2008

Foreign Investors Strike It Rich

Foreigner investors are grabbing more of New Zealand and extracting huge profits from their investment, says New Zealand First’s economic development spokesman Doug Woolerton.

Figures released by the Finance Minister in Parliament today show that the total inflow of foreign investment into New Zealand was $26 billion in the year ended 31 December, while income from foreign investment was $16.2 billion in the same period.

“Foreign investors are getting massive returns on their investments in New Zealand. For a total of $89 billion invested into New Zealand since 2004, foreigners have extracted $65 billion in profits.

“To put these figures in perspective, the amount earned by foreigners on their investment in New Zealand is about a fifth of the total Government revenue in the last financial year, or about 10 percent of New Zealand’s annual GDP.

“As more and more of the economy is snapped up by foreign investors, Kiwis are being increasingly exploited by their overseas masters’ drive to extract maximum profits.

“New Zealand cannot prosper with such huge profits earned off Kiwi labour ending up in foreign pockets,” said Mr Woolerton.

ENDS

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